Pay by country

Plant operator pay, country by country.

One method for every bar: live ads, medians, the sample behind each number. Annual compares to annual, hourly to hourly — never mixed.

Advertised annual salary

Careerjet ads showing pay · median of advertised ranges · bars £-converted for scale, ECB 2026-08-04 · bars start at zero

£37,472/yr ≈ £37,472n=13small sample

Dubai & UAE

AED 128,694/yr ≈ £26,062n=13small sample

Careerjet ads showing pay · median of advertised ranges · bars £-converted for scale, ECB 2026-08-04 · bars start at zero

Canada

C$52.30/hr ≈ £27.66n=27small sample

Australia

A$47.00/hr ≈ £24.58n=19small sample

Benchmarks — different measures, so they sit beside the chart, not in it:

UK · Adzuna guide: £47,290/yr — advertised annual MEAN, 1,080 salary-bearing ads
Australia · Adzuna guide: A$93,957/yr — advertised annual MEAN, 210 salary-bearing ads
UK · ONS official: full-time “Mobile machine drivers and operatives n.e.c.” earned a median £37,900 in 2025 — earned pay runs below advertised offers.

Every bar: Careerjet live ads, one method — typed salary fields honoured and band-validated, URL-deduplicated, MEDIAN of advertised range midpoints, minimum 10 pay-bearing ads. Periods never mixed: annual compares to annual, hourly to hourly. Dubai monthly ads annualise ×12 (calendar arithmetic, no hours assumptions). Cells that fail to fetch are excluded, never guessed.
The £ column uses ECB reference rates via frankfurter.app, 2026-08-04 · AED via the 3.6725/USD peg · a currency conversion, NOT a purchasing-power or cost-of-living comparison.
Tax and living costs differ wildly — a bigger number abroad is not automatically a better life.

Data refreshed 2026-08-05.

Pay by country

One method for every bar: live ads, medians, the sample behind each number. Annual compares to annual, hourly to hourly — never mixed.

Careerjet ads showing pay · median of advertised ranges · bars £-converted for scale, ECB 2026-08-04 · bars start at zero

£37,472/yr ≈ £37,472n=13small sample

Dubai & UAE

AED 128,694/yr ≈ £26,062n=13small sample

Careerjet ads showing pay · median of advertised ranges · bars £-converted for scale, ECB 2026-08-04 · bars start at zero

Canada

C$52.30/hr ≈ £27.66n=27small sample

Australia

A$47.00/hr ≈ £24.58n=19small sample

Benchmarks — different measures, so they sit beside the chart, not in it:

UK · Adzuna guide: £47,290/yr — advertised annual MEAN, 1,080 salary-bearing ads
Australia · Adzuna guide: A$93,957/yr — advertised annual MEAN, 210 salary-bearing ads
UK · ONS official: full-time “Mobile machine drivers and operatives n.e.c.” earned a median £37,900 in 2025 — earned pay runs below advertised offers.

Every bar: Careerjet live ads, one method — typed salary fields honoured and band-validated, URL-deduplicated, MEDIAN of advertised range midpoints, minimum 10 pay-bearing ads. Periods never mixed: annual compares to annual, hourly to hourly. Dubai monthly ads annualise ×12 (calendar arithmetic, no hours assumptions). Cells that fail to fetch are excluded, never guessed.
The £ column uses ECB reference rates via frankfurter.app, 2026-08-04 · AED via the 3.6725/USD peg · a currency conversion, NOT a purchasing-power or cost-of-living comparison.
Tax and living costs differ wildly — a bigger number abroad is not automatically a better life.

Data refreshed 2026-08-05.